November 19, 2025 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- A visual comparing the docking systems of the Shenzhou, Starliner, and Dragon spacecraft, all based on the Soviet/Russian APAS-89/95 system
Superficially, it appears they are all compatible, but the devil is always in the details.
- Canadian government touts a $6.9 million grant for building a cubesat designed to impact the Moon
The award is to the company Magellan Aerospace. The release says nothing about a timetable.
- Astrolab touts using Starship to get its FLEX unmanned rover to the Moon
Someone linked to this video in the comments yesterday. Lots of pretty graphics, but we are still only dealing with concepts.
- Cosmonaut Konstantín Borísov gives a tour of the ISS
The narration is in Russian, but when he enters the American half of the station the labels switch to English. The station certainly looks like the attic of a family that has hoarded a lot of junk over the years.
- Photo of new 72-foot-wide crater on the Moon, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The impact occurred sometime between 2009 and 2012.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- A visual comparing the docking systems of the Shenzhou, Starliner, and Dragon spacecraft, all based on the Soviet/Russian APAS-89/95 system
Superficially, it appears they are all compatible, but the devil is always in the details.
- Canadian government touts a $6.9 million grant for building a cubesat designed to impact the Moon
The award is to the company Magellan Aerospace. The release says nothing about a timetable.
- Astrolab touts using Starship to get its FLEX unmanned rover to the Moon
Someone linked to this video in the comments yesterday. Lots of pretty graphics, but we are still only dealing with concepts.
- Cosmonaut Konstantín Borísov gives a tour of the ISS
The narration is in Russian, but when he enters the American half of the station the labels switch to English. The station certainly looks like the attic of a family that has hoarded a lot of junk over the years.
- Photo of new 72-foot-wide crater on the Moon, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The impact occurred sometime between 2009 and 2012.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Did Cosmonaut Borísov’s tour of the ISS include demonstrations of the Russian docking port cracks, and/or the persistent air leaks in the tunnel connecting the Russian Service Module to a docking port? Just curious.
”Superficially, it appears they are all compatible…”
They are not. If they were, Starliner and Dragon wouldn’t need a docking adapter to dock to them.
mkent: Why did you leave out the rest of my quote, which went on to say “but the devil is always in the details.” Phrasing your comment in this way sure appears you are trying to make me look bad for no reason.
Robert: I am not trying to make you look bad. I am trying to put to bed this notion that SpaceX is somehow going to mount a rescue mission for the Chinese astronauts. To that end I was just quoting the part I was responding to. No offense is intended.
mkent: Thank you. I appreciate the clarity. Note that I make enough errors that I am glad to admit to and correct. I don’t need people implying errors by me when they don’t exist. :)
And now for a trip down memory lane:
Katalyst has chosen Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL to launch its Swift rescue mission in June 2026.
As you may recall, two Pegasus XLs were built and sold to Stratolaunch years ago. When that company exited the space launch business to focus on hypersonic flight testing, Northrop Grumman re-acquired the two Pegasus XLs. That was over *six years ago.*
NG used one of them to launch the TacRL mission 4-1/2 years ago but has not launched another Pegasus since. The XL and the Stargazer that launches it — the last remaining flyable L-1011 in existence — (and the flight crew) have been kept in flyable storage since then.
Apparently they are all going to be brought out of storage one last time before finally being retired. I assume that’s what will happen then, as the list price on a Pegasus XL was $42 million for a payload of 450 kg to LEO. Electron carries about half the payload for 1/6 the price and has demonstrated higher reliability to boot, and Firefly’s Alpha runs about half the price for 2-1/2 times the payload. Sure, Alpha’s reliability is not great, but I can’t imagine NG can sell any more Pegasus flights at anywhere near list price. So I assume Katalyst got a hefty discount to clear the Pegasus and the Stargazer off of NG’s books.
A cool way to ride into the sunset if you ask me.
Yeah, the Chinese docking system is *based* on the Russian APAS-89/95, which in turn is the basis for the International Docking System Standard (IDSS) is use on ISS, but….while the Chinese are not, as usual very forthcoming, it’s generally believed that they are not compatible without some modification, as I understand it. That said, the common heritage preusmably means that such modification would not be *too* onerous or involved.
Yeah, they obviously do not have a flight article ready yet, but . . . they have built fully working prototypes for testing on Earth, which you can see here:
https://spacenews.com/astrolabs-flex-rover-to-be-launched-on-upcoming-spacex-mission-to-the-moon/
So, they seem to be somewhere in the middle of the development process: no flight hardware, but something more than just renders.
It is also worth noting that Astrolab is working on FLIP (a subscale testbed for FLEX) to replace the VIPER rover on the Griffin lander on a really short timescale. It is currently scheduled for summer 2026. I think what Astrolab is really waiting for, if they are waiting at all, is whether FLEX is going to be build depends on which of the three unpressurized rovers (Flex by Astrolab, Eagle by Lunar Outpost, Moon Racer by Intuitive Machine) is going to get awarded the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV)contract from NASA. They have some commercial customers now lined up, but I don’t think they are enough by themselves to close the business case yet.
https://www.astrolab.space/flip-rover/
(Of course, this means that it is important that Griffin actually has a successful landing!)
Of note: Today, Blue Origin announces 2 new variants of New Glenn: super heavy lift variant (over 70 metric tons to low-Earth orbit) and an upgraded standard variant. Wow.
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-glenn-upgraded-engines-subcooled-components-drive-enhanced-performance
Unclear from the press release whether the “9×4” super heavy variant is intended to be reusable.
Dave Limp X post discussing this development: https://x.com/davill/status/1991538235609326013
High quality render of the super heavy variant here: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/assets/63916.0/2440439.jpg
P.S. to my last: Dave Limp piles on by posting a render of current and super heavy NG variants next to a Saturn V for scale:
https://x.com/davill/status/1991544049095045367
Eric Berger comments: “It was painfully obvious NASA should stop building big rockets on February 6, 2018, with the debut of Falcon Heavy. It became a mockery with the second flight of Starship in Nov. 2023. Now we have New Glenn. Enough already.” https://x.com/SciGuySpace/status/1991539222935924749
I’d say it was painfully obvious well before that (as I know our host believes, too), but I get what he’s saying. It’s becoming truly ridiculous now. Kill SLS and put it out of its misery. And into a rocket garden.
And yet, there are still SLS defenders pushing back against Eric on this, right in that thread. :sigh:
(Yes, I know, I know it’s years before BO has this super heavy variant ready. Still, we know they have the resources to actually do it. And they obviously seem to think there is a business case for it.)
Richard M: I am writing up the post for this now.
Looking forward to it!
While I doubt this suggestion will be followed, I feel it very important that it be made:
With the efforts by the United States to return to the moon, the selection of suitable landing sites is important. What is there to study? What are we hoping to learn? Can this site be useful in the future?
I suggest that one of the first, if not THE first, landing mission with humans should be at the Apollo 11 landing site, and it should include the very most vocal denier of the 1969 landing that we can find.
This, I command. This, I demand.
:-P
F: You made me laugh out loud.
I suggest that one of the first, if not THE first, landing mission with humans should be at the Apollo 11 landing site, and it should include the very most vocal denier of the 1969 landing that we can find.
That’s good.
The dark blot at the bottom of the new crater in the Moon…blob of metal?